NEW DELHI: India endured mixed fortunes at the Singapore Open Super 750 on Friday as PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen bowed out in the quarterfinals, while the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty battled into the semifinals with a gritty comeback win.Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu once again found reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 An Se Young too difficult to overcome, losing 17-21, 14-21 in a 48-minute women’s singles quarterfinal clash.The defeat extended Sindhu’s winless streak against the Korean star to nine matches, underlining An’s dominance in one of badminton’s most one-sided modern rivalries.Sindhu shows fight but An Se Young stays in controlSindhu began aggressively and tried to take the attack to An with powerful smashes and quick interceptions at the net. However, the Korean’s superior court coverage and consistency proved decisive once again.Trailing 7-11 in the opening game, Sindhu fought back impressively to narrow the gap to 13-14 with a series of attacking strokes. She even closed in at 17-19 after winning the longest rally of the match, but a couple of untimely errors allowed An to close out the game.The second game started badly for Sindhu as An raced to a 6-0 lead. Although the Indian recovered briefly and stayed within touching distance at 12-14 after a gruelling 30-shot rally, her momentum faded as unforced errors crept in.An’s relentless precision and exceptional retrieval skills eventually wore Sindhu down before the Korean sealed victory comfortably to book her semifinal spot.The challenge against An was always steep for Sindhu, considering the world No. 1 has lost just one match this year and continues to dominate the women’s circuit.In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen also crashed out after a hard-fought 19-21, 21-15, 15-21 loss to Japan’s Koki Watanabe in a 78-minute contest.Satwik-Chirag keep India’s hopes aliveIndia’s biggest positive of the day came through Satwik and Chirag, who showed tremendous resilience to defeat Malaysia’s Khai Xing Kang and Aaron Tai 19-21, 21-17, 21-13 in a thrilling men’s doubles quarterfinal.The fourth-seeded Indian pair recovered strongly after losing the opening game and gradually took control with their aggressive net play and powerful smashes. The contest lasted one hour and five minutes.The Asian Games champions will now face top seeds and reigning world champions Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae of Korea in the semifinals.India also enjoyed success in mixed doubles as Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the semifinals after Malaysia’s third-seeded pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei retired during the opening game.The Indian duo will next face Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara for a place in the final.
